Thursday, June 19, 2008

My son graduated from high school three years ago, and I found that while we did a fair job of saving for his college education, he wasn't prepared to begin making sound financial decisions to secure his future. I'm not even sure where I would have begun to teach him what he needed to know. So, when I heard tax attorney and author, James Burns was on tour with Pump Up Your Book Promotion, I knew this is the topic I wanted him to cover with our our readers.

Here's what James had to say when I asked him to draft a guest article on ways that high school students could (with parental assistance) begin implementing the strategies found within his book, The 3 Secret Pillars of Wealth, to allow them to be more financially secure by the age of 25:

All students in high school should get a thorough understanding of how leverage, arbitrage and cash flow works. Cash flow is essential from both a family perspective and running a business as we will see an amazing surge of entrepreneurism. I find so many people do not understand how a mortgage works which may be the biggest debt they take on in their lives and they have to understand all the choices and how they work. Debt management is essential because children will model their family and may pick up improper habits that will get them in financial trouble. Millions of people do not understand how interest on credit cards compound and they can literally pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars in interest charges when they use it. Credit cards were designed originally for travelling salesmen who had business expenses; it was not a passage to ownership on things that you could presently not afford.

At the end of the day, we can give them all those tools and without a formula for success that gets installed in them like a hard drive it may all go for naught. I make it perfectly clear in my book that accumulating wealth is as much a mental state as acting upon that state with any particular asset or strategy. If they practice the Super-5 each day and imbed it like a habit they can reach higher levels of success. The Super-5 starts with:

1. Visualize your wealth,2. Meditate3. Affirmations that you deserve and can receive4. Join a mastermind group (like-minded people)5. Accountability partner

First they visualize themselves with the wealth in a specific way and uproot negative associations to money. Then meditate on what abundance and gratitude looks like and that they deserve to receive giving up any guilt. They should then use affirmation to continue to plug this into the sub-conscious, join a mastermind group for support with people who are likeminded and then you need your accountability partner, and they can even use this person to form positive study habits. This starts by meeting weekly with the partner and then discussing with one another what you plan to commit to for the week and then get together the following week to check on each other and serve a feedback sandwich.

Here's more about The 3 Secret Pillars of Wealth:

The evidence is now clear that the old formula of go to school, get a job, buy a house and retire no longer works. Retirees need more reliance in a ruthless and unpredictable future with many new curves in the road to retirement. The US Department of Health and Human Services says that 36% percent of sixty-five year olds are still working, 54% are dependent (require family or government assistance), five percent are deceased, 4% are financially dependent (with at least $3,000 per month to live on) and one percent are wealthy.

In answer to the statistics of only 1% of retirees achieving wealth upon retirement, the book The 3 Secret Pillars of Wealth has come to the aid of concerned retirees. The author cautions readers that we are facing financial times unlike anything we've seen before and we cannot afford to make mistakes or be taken advantage of.

The 3 Secret Pillars of Wealth is a virtual survivor’s manual for the investor informing them of what they face in the future that is new and unpredictable and how much investing is costing them with traditional investment vehicles. Forward-thinking financial planners will avail themselves of the technical information outlined in The 3 Secret Pillars of Wealth, while the average investor will have a roadmap that guides them to financial success. One of many recent books to go against the grain and inform the public how much investing is costing them and how they are in a losing battle where executives of the big investment firms take $52 million dollar Christmas bonuses. The book is ultimately written for entrepreneurs and investors who are busy with life or lack financial education and are defenseless targets by opportunists abusing the financial planning system because of the compensation grids unique to the U.S.

THE 3 SECRET PILLARS OF WEALTH VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR '08 will officially begin on June 1, 2008 and continue all month long. If you would like to follow James's tour in progress, visit http://www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com/ in June. Leave a comment at any of his blog stops and become eligible to win a free copy at the end of his tour! One lucky winner will be announced on his tour page on June 30!